terrorize

Terrorize is a transitive verb meaning to fill someone with fear by using threats, intimidation, or violence, or to coerce behavior by threat or fear. It can describe actions aimed at individuals or at a larger group or community. In everyday use, to terrorize implies purposeful, persistent behavior intended to create fear or compliance, rather than sporadic acts of violence.

The word derives from terror through the agent noun-izing suffix -ize, ultimately from the Latin and French roots for fear. English usage dates to the early modern period. It is primarily a negative term and is common in news reporting, criminology, and psychology when describing intimidation, abuse, or coercive tactics.

In legal and policy contexts, actions described as terrorizing may be addressed under laws against harassment, threats, or violence. The term is often contrasted with terrorism, which denotes politically motivated acts intended to terrorize a population as a whole. In social science, researchers study the effects of terrorization on individuals and communities, including stress, trauma, and decreased sense of safety.